- Panel A - Canada-Mexico Relations
- Panel B - State and Culture
- Panel C - Labour and Migration
- Panel D - Social Movements and Transnationalism
- Panel E - Investment and Trade - NAFTA and Beyond?
- Panel F - Sustainable Development
- Panel G - Machismo - Gender Roles and Sexuality
- Keynote - Dr. Cassio Luiselli Fernández
Panel A: Canada-Mexico Relations
A key component of Across Borders: Diverse Perspectives on Mexico is to strengthen Canada-Mexico relations and to promote a greater understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing the Mexican nation.
The Canada-Mexico Relations panel was held in Glendon's Senate Chamber. Moderated by Glendon's Canadian Studies Program Co-ordinator, Dr. Colin Coates, the panelists addressed the important and multifaceted relationship between Canada and Mexico in a North American context. They discussed the economic, political, and social relations between the two nations.
left to right: Ms. Heidi Kutz, Mr. Juan Bosco Martí Ascencio, Dr. Colin Coates
Director-General for North America
Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs
On February 1, 2004, Bosco Martí Ascencio was appointed Director General for North America at the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of Mexico. From 2003 to February 2004, he acted as Chief of Staff for the Undersecretary for North America at the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, Mexico. He participated in President Fox's economic transition project and in the financial sector co-ordination. Mr. Martí was advisor in the President's Public Policies Office where he participated in the creation of the US-Mexico bi-national program (P4P). He co-ordinated studies which focused on increasing competitiveness in the North American region. Mr. Martí has a vast experience in the financial sector as well asin investment banking companies such as Merrill Lynch and Arthur Andersen. Mr. Martí is the Co-ordinator of the Mexican Government's Relief Efforts for Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina and is a personal representative of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Luis Ernesto Derbez.
Ms. Heidi Kutz, Dr. Cassio Luiselli Fernández
Director for Mexico and North American Division
Foreign Affairs Canada
Heidi Kutz received a BA in Communications from the University of Calgary, and a Masters in Public Administration from Carleton University. Since 1993, she has worked in various capacities for the Canadian government, including Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. In 1995, she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, with early assignments in divisions responsible for Parliamentary Relations and Human Security and Peace Building. In 1996, she was assigned to temporary duty at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, where she was also stationed as the Political Program Manager from 2001-2004. Ms. Kutz worked in the Inter-American Division of Foreign Affairs Canada as a Co-ordinator for the Summit of the Americas (1999-2001), and in 2004 worked as the Deputy Director of the US Advocacy and Mission Liaison Division. She is currently the Acting Director of the Mexico and North America Division of Foreign Affairs Canada.
left to right: Mr. Rafael Cortés Gómez, Dr. Duncan Wood, Ms. Heidi Kutz
Director, International Relations Program
Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
Duncan Wood received his BA (hons) in Politis from Leicester University in the UK in 1989, his MA in Political Science from McMaster University in 1990, and his PhD in Political Studies from Queen's University in 1996. Since 1996 he has been teaching and researching at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City where he directs the Canadian Studies Program and, since January 2001, has been the Director of the undergraduate program in International Relations. Dr. Wood's research focuses on the political economy of international finance, Canadian, British, and Mexican foreign policy, and in particular in recent years on Canada-Mexico relations. Dr. Wood is also Director of a consulting company called ThinkMexico, providing services to foreign and national firms in the Mexican and Latin American contexts.
Panel B: State and Culture
The State and Culture Panel, moderated by Dr. Margarita Feliciano (Hispanic Studies, Glendon College), emerged out of the Committee's desire to include more than traditional international relations topics in symposium discussions.
Culture and national identity is entirely relevant in relation to political and economic discussions in an international context. The Mexican Revolution, the bloodiest civil conflict of the 20th Century, was perhaps the most significant contributor to the processes of creating a modern Mexican national identity. This panel discussed the role of the arts and the state in the formation of this sense of 'Mexicanidad' after the Revolution, and the countercultural movements that emerged in the 1960s to challenge this discourse.
Dr. Anne Rubenstein chats with Dr. Susie Porter
Associate Professor
York University
Anne Rubenstein is Associate Professor of History in the Faculty of Arts, York University. Her first book, Bad Language, Naked Ladies, and Other Threats to the Nation: A Political History of Comic Books in Mexico (Duke University Press, 1998) was translated and published last year by the Fondo de Cultura Económica under the title De los Pepines a los Agachados. Comics y censura en Mexico. With Eric Zolov and Gil Joseph, she co-edited Fragments of a Golden Age: Cultural Politics in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (Duke University Press, 2001). Her recent research extends her interests in media, politics, and gender in Mexican history, concentrating on movie audiences, movie-going, fashion, and fans from the 1920s to the present.
Dr. Eric Zolov presents on the State and Culture Panel
Associate Professor
Franklin & Marshall College
Eric Zolov is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Franklin & Marshall College and is Associate Editor for The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Inter-American Cultural History. He is the author of Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture (University of California Press, 1999) and co-editor and contributor to Fragments of a Golden Age: Cultural Politics in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (Duke University Press, 2001), and Rockin' Las Américas: The Global Politics of Rock in Latin/o America (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004). he is also coeditor of the classroom reader, Latin America and the United States: A Documentary History (Oxford University Press, 2000). Currently he is researching and writing on the impact of the Cuban revolution on Mexican political culture and US-Mexican relations during the 1960s, for which he has received a Fullbright (2002) and National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships (2001-02; 2005).
Panel C: Labour and Migration
Transnational migration in a North American context has become a rich and intense field of study. Mexican labour is a significant contributor to both the US and Canadian economies.
Labour and Migration, moderated by Dr. Edward Silva (Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto) discussed the phenomenon of the US-Mexican border crossings through the experiences of the working class.
Dr. Richard Roman discusses the labour market and labour movements in North America.
Professor (Retired)
University of Toronto
Richard Roman was a professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto for three decades and has been an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at York University for many years. He is presently teaching a graduate seminar on Advanced Issues in Latin American Politics at York University. Dr. Velasco is a Professor of Economics at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Azcapotzalco, Mexico City and has been a longtime activist in the Mexicna union movement. They have been conducting research together on mexican workers, trade unions, and continental integration for a number of years and have published various articles on these topics in academic and political journals. They are in the process of completing two books on these themes: The Peculiarities of Mexican Development: Mexican Workers, Unions, and the State and Mexican Workers, NAFTA, and Continental Integration.
Dr. Shirk chats with Dr. John Stolle-McAllister
Director, Trans-Border Institute
University of San Diego
David Shirk has been the Director of the Trans-Border Institute since 2003. He is an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department and received his PhD in Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Shirk conducts research and publishes on topics related to Mexican politics, US-Mexican relations, and a variety of policy issues along the US-Mexican border. Recent publications by Dr. Shirk include Mexico's New Politics: The PAN and Democratic Change (Colorado: Lynne Reinner, 2005); a forthcoming co-edited volume, Reforming the Administration of Justice in Mexico (forthcoming, 2006); Slavery Without Borders: Human Trafficking in the US-Mexican Context (CSIS Hemisphere Focus, January 23, 2004); and a forthcoming co-authored book, Contemporary Mexican Politics (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, forthcoming).
Panel D: Social Movements and Transnationalism
The Social Movements and Transnationalism panel, moderated by Dr. Eduardo Canel (Sociology, York University), discussed the histories and struggles of local grassroots actors, the realities of their impact locally and internationally, and the magnitude of their contributions in Mexico.
Mexican social movements and indigenous mobilization have developed and evolved in response to modernizing practices of the state that have pushed political and economic development over the last three decades. This panel addressed the transnational impact of these actors on Mexican communities.
Dr. John Gledhill
Max Gluckman Professor of Social Anthropology
Co-Director of the Centre for Latin American Cultural Studies
University of Manchester
John Gledhill is the Max Gluckman Professor of Social Anthropology and Co-Director of the Centre for Latin American Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester, a member of the UK Academy of Social Sciences, and Chair of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth (2005-2009). His publications include Casi Nada: Agrarian Reform in the Homeland of Cardenismo (1991), Neoliberalism, Transnationalization, and Rural Poverty (1995), Power and its Disguises: Anthropological Perspectives on Politics (2000), and Cultura y Desafío en Ostula: Cuatro Siglos de Autonomía en la Costa-Sierra Nahua de Michoacán (2004).
left to right: Dr. Eduardo Canel and Dr. John Stolle-McAllister
Assistant Professor
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
John Stolle-McAllister earned his PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Minnesota in 2000 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Cultural Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His research analyzes the political and cultural work of local organizations and small communities in opposing outside projects and adapting national and global thought and practice to their particular contexts. He teaches classes on Latin American cultural issues, human rights, and ethnography. He has published several articles on social movements, the Mexican transition, and popular culture, and his book, Mexican Social Movements and the Transition to Democracy (McFarland, 2005), details the cultural processes in Tepoztlán's anti-golf course and Atenco's anti-airport movements. His current project involves examining and comparing the discourses of indigenous identity and pluriculturalism in social movements in Ecuador and Mexico.
Panel E: Investment and Trade - NAFTA and Beyond? (a roundtable discussion)
In the series of these student-run conferences, this was the first time the students had hosted an ‘unscripted’ panel.
The experts were asked to debate specific questions prepared by the committee and delivered by the moderator, Mr. Jose Luis Atristain (a Mexican national with the Spanish Consulate in Toronto) rather than to deliver prepared presentations based on their research and/or experience. This roundtable discussed Mexico's future course in North American integration, approching it from an interdisciplinary perspective. The questions debated are as follows:
ROUND 1:
How has NAFTA contributed to Mexico's slow economic growth?
Would Mexico be better off domestically without NAFTA? How so? Why not?
ROUND 2:
Does Mexico fit into the future plans of Canada? How so? Why not?
Does Canada fit into the future plans of Mexico? How so? Why not?
This roundtable discussion was chaired by Dr. Kenneth McRoberts, principal of Glendon College, York University.
left to right: Mr. Alberto Miranda and Mr. Emmanuel Kamarianakis debate Mexico's future in NAFTA.
Counsellor (Commercial) and Trade Commissioner (Trade Policy)
Embassy of Canada in Mexico
Emmanuel Kamarianakis is Counsellor (Commercial) and Trade Commissioner (Trade Policy) at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, responsible for all trade policy issues between Canada and Mexico, and supervises the trade promotion side for the Environment and ICT units. Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Emmanuel completed his studies in Buisness at the University of Calgary, Alberta. Before being recruited by the Canadian Foreign Service, he worked on the Alberta Stock Exchange, a venture-capital exchange specializing in resource industries. He began his career with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1993. Emmanuel has previously been posted abroad in Tehran, Iran and an Athens, Greece. In Tehran, Emmanuel was responsible for the Oil and Gas sector. Before coming to Mexico, Emmanuel was Senior Trade Commissioner and responsible for Canada's trade and economic relations with Greece in Athens.
Senior Vice President
Scotiabank Inverlat
Alberto Miranda holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Universidad Iberoamericana at Mexico City and an MBA from Kellogg-Northwestern University. He joined Scotiabank's Mexican subsidiary in 1987. At Scotiabank Inverlat, he has held different senior management positions in corporate finance, equity research, compliance, market risk management, and strategic planning. He was heaviliy involved when Scotiabank increased its ownership from 55% to 91% (now at 97%) and was part of the Scotiabank Inverlat's Board of Directors for more than 3 years. He has been working in Toronto since 2003, in different credit areas as part of a training program, where he has been mainly exposed to credit adjudication for Canadian, US, and Mexican companies.
left to right: Mr. Jose Luis Atristain (moderator) and Mr. Daniel Drache
Director Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies
York University
Mr. Daniel Drache is Associate Director of the Robarts Centre of Canadian Studies and Professor of Political Science at York University. He has written extensively on globalization, North American economic integration and new state forms and practices. He is a regular commentator on national news for the CBC and other networks. His latest book, Borders Matter: Homeland Security and the Search for North America (Halifax: Fernwood 2004) is being published in Spanish by Siglo XXI, Mexico and will be a new edition. It is also being published in French by Athenae Editions Montreal.
Mr. Rafel Jose Cortes Gomez represents the Mexican Trade Commission on the NAFTA roundtable.
Trade Commissioner of Mexico
Bancomext
Rafael J. Cortes holds a Bachelor in Political Science and Public Administration, and a Masters in Economics and Business Law from the Universidad Iberoamericana, as well as an MBA from the Kellogg-Schulich program. Before joining the Mexican Bank for Foreign Trade in 1989, Rafael worked at the Mexican Ministry of Planning and Budget as Financial Drector at the National Institute for Statistics, Geography, and Informatics. He also served at the Ministry as Chief Administrative Officer for the Undersecretary's Office. He was Marketing Manager for North America at the External Promotion Directorate of the Mexican Bank for Foreign Trade, and was Deputy Trade Commissioner for Mexico in Miami from 1991 to 1995. He has represented the Mexican Bank for Foreign Trade in extensive commercial missions to the US and was appointed Trade Commissioner of Mexico in Toronto on April 1st, 2000.
Dr. Morales Moreno participates in the roundtable debate
Visiting Scholar, School of International Service
American University, Washington DC
Dr. Isidro Morales Moreno is currently a visiting Fulbright scholar at American University in Washington DC, working on a book about the present and future of regionalism in North America. He is a member of Mexico's National Research System, the Academic Council for the United Nations System (ACUNS), and the Mexican Council for Foreign Affairs. His main research areas are the geopolitics and geo-economics of trade and investment markets; the political economy of regional integration; Mexico-US trade relations; and US-Latin American relations. He has co-authored two books and published several articles in specialized journals, which recently include, "Post-sovereign Governance in a Globalizing and Fragmenting World: The Case of Mexico," and Ëstados Unidos y el 'regionalismo abierto'en las Americas. Lecciones del TLCAN para Mexico y para las negociaciones del ALCA."
Panel F: Sustainable Development
Rural Mexico is resource-rich and culturally diverse. The Sustainable Development panel examined the debates of state, civil society, and indigenous groups on how to make use of these resources, while ensuring environmental protection and indigenous rights.
The concepts and practices of sustainable development, at a national and international level, involve complex opportunities and challenges for the international community. This panel, moderated by Dr. Elisabeth Abergel of Glendon College's International Studies Program, addressed how various actors are involved in these important strategies, including NGOs and international organizations, the Mexican state, and men and women in local communities. Panelists examined sustainable development programs and policies for rural regions within Mexico, as well as with Central America (through the Plan Puebla Panama). The needs and concerns for sustainability were discussed concerning the environment, resource management, infrastructure, industry, and poverty reduction.
Dr. David Barkin
Professor
Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco
David Barkin is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and of the National Research Council. His most recent books include: Wealth, Poverty, and Sustainable Development and Innovaciones Mexicanas en el Manejo del Agua. His recent research focuses on implementing sustainable alternative strategies to the global process of unequal development.
Dr. Julia Murphy
Dr. Julia Murphy
Professor
University of Calgary
Julia Murphy is a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Calgary. Originally trained as a biologist, her graduate degrees are from York's Faculty of Environmental Studies and Department of Social Anthropology (MA, PhD). Her graduate research examined rural development initiatives in Yucatec Maya ejidos in the states of Quintana Roo and Campeche. Her Mexican research interests include ethnographic perspectives on development, natural resource management, and environmentalism; gender and women's involvement in politics; and indigenous peoples.
Dr. Alejandro Álvarez Béjar
Professor
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Alejandro Álvarez Béjar is a full time professor in the economics faculty of UNAM. He has conducted ongoing research on sub-regional impacts of economic integration (in centre-north and southeast regions of Mexico). Teaching courses on Problems and Perspectives of the International Economy and the Mexican Economy, he has published or edited several books and articles in Mexican and international specialized journals.
Panel G: Machismo - Gender Roles and Sexuality
Social structures are important to examine in the study of any country, and gender relations are fundamental to understanding said structures. This panel underscores the realities of gender relations in Mexico and seeks to dispel gendered stereotypes that are so prevalent in relation to Mexican men and women.
Moderated by Ms. Carmen Sanchez, Teaching Assistant of Political Science at Glendon, this panel addressed gendered roles that are constructed through identities and ideologies of sexuality, labour and class, informing the relationships between Mexican men and women. The panelists discussed the stereotypes that exist concerning Mexican society and culture, and addressed systems of inequality and oppression that emerge from these structures.
Dr. Matthew C. Gutmann
Associate Professor
Brown University
Matthew C. Gutmann is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Brown University, where he teaches classes on gender and sexuality, health, political anthropology, ethnicity and race, and ethnography in the Americas. He has a PhD and MPH from the University of California at Berkeley and has been a visiting professor in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants, including a National Endowment for the Humanities University Professor Fellowship. Among his publications are: The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City (California, 1996; Spanish version :Colegio de Mexico, 2000), The Romance of Democracy: Compliant Defiance in Contemporary Mexico (California, 2002; Spanish version: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2005), Mainstreaming Men into Gender and Development: Debates, Reflections, and Experiences (with Sylvia Chant; Oxfam 2000), and the edited volumes Changing Men and Masculinities in Latin America (Duke, 2003) and Perspectives on Las Americas: A Reader in Culture, History and Representation (with Felix Matos Rodriguez, Lynn Stephen, and Patricia Zavella; Blackwell 2003).
Dr. Susie Porter
Associate Professor
University of Utah
Susie Porter is Associate Professor in the Department of History and the Gender Studies Program at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. She is the author of Workingwomen in Mexico City: public discourses and material conditions, 1879-1931 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003), which was awarded 'Outstanding Publication' by the Latin American Studies Association, Labour and Class Relations Studies Section (2005); and, the co-editor of a publication in press on Mexican women's and gender history. Dr. Porter recently completed work as Director of Latin American Studies at the University of Utah and hosted the third International Colloquium on the History of Women and Gender in Mexico. She currently lives in Mexico city with her husband and two children and is conducting research on gender and middle-class identity, 1920-1950. Her current research is funded by the Fulbright Foundation.
Keynote Address - Dr. Cassio Luiselli Fernández
Dr. Cassio Luiselli Fernández delivers his keynote addressDr. Cassio Luiselli Fernández is a Mexican economist. He obtained his undergradutate degree in Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Later, he carried out graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (MS Economics and PhD in Development Studies). Recently, he obtained a PhD at the University of South Africa in the Department of Environmental Studies, with a dissertation entitled "Towards Environmental Sustainability in the Metropolitan Zone of Mexico City: Indicators and Projections to 2030."
Dr. Luiselli has written over 45 technical and academic articles, and is author and co-author of several books. He is member of the Editorial Boards of the Mexican journals "Nexos" and "Este País." He writes editorials for "Dario Monitor." He has been a professor and speaker in many universities all over the world. He participated in the IV Iberian Water Management and Planning Congress.
Dr. Luiselli has received decorations from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as well as from the French, Italian, Japanese, Bulgarian, and Korean governments. He also received the Kellog's Foundation Food System Leadership Award.
He was a visiting scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the Centre for US-Mexico Studies at the University of California in San Diego. He has been a member of the "Groupo de Alto Nivel" ("Blue Ribbon Commission") for the relations between Mexico and the United States and he also participated in the US-Mexico Studies project at Stanford University. Dr. Luiselli is a member of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), and of the Mexican Council of International Affairs. External Consultant for the G-15 Summit Level Group of Developing Countries.
Dr. Luiselli was researcher and founder of the CIDE (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas) and has previous teaching experience at UNAM, Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA), El Colegio de México, Instituto Matías Romero de Estudios Doplomáticos, and TEC de Monterrey.
Within the Public Administration, Dr. Luiselli has worked for the Treasury, he was advisor to the Mexican President, and Co-ordinator of the Mexican Food System. At the present administration of Vincente Fox, he was Subsecretary of Environmental Regulation at the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) until September, 2004.
Deputy Chairman of the Directive Council of the National Water Commission (Comisión Nacional del Agua), he directed the National Recovery Project of the Lerma Santiago, Chapala Lake Basin. He also worked on the preservation project of Lake Texcoco in the basin of México. he is a member of the Alliance for a New Water Culture and has written extensively on water issues.
He held the post of sub-director of CEPAL of the United Nations, and Deputy Director of the Inter-American Institute of Co-operation in Agriculture (IICA). He also was consultant for the FAO and for the PNUD, and advisor for the Brazilian government in rural development.
Dr. Luiselli was Ambassador of Mexico to the Republic of South Korea and the first Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa when Nelson Mandela was elected president. He also served as Ambassador in five other African states, and has acted as permanent observer of Mexico to the Southern African Development Community (SADC). He was advisor to President Vincente Fox in his visit to China and Korea, and co-president of the Mexico-Korea Commission for the 21st century.
Currently, Dr. Luiselli is a full-time professor and head of the International Studies Department at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico City.